Between October 2008 and April 2010 I was a member of the UNB/STU Habitat for Humanity volunteer organization. Our group took part in Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge - instead of going on a Spring Break trip just to relax, college and university students are challenged to spend their break volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build site.
Our group's main goal was fundraising enough money so that we could go to a build site in the southern USA, where the weather is nice enough in March and April that home construction is possible. We did many fundraisers such as bake sales, band nights, and silent auctions.
There are so many volunteers at UNB/STU that not everyone can go on the trip each year. In my first year, I wasn't able to go. However, I did get to go in 2010. A group of about 30 of us went to Birmingham, Alabama, which is about a 35-hour drive from Fredericton, New Brunswick. We spent a week there helping in all aspects of home construction, from roofing to landscaping to painting. We were even fortunate enough to be there when the keys to one of the homes we worked on were handed to their new owners. It was great to see such a loving family walk into their first real home.
What I love about teaching is the feeling that I am helping someone. Even though you can't help everyone, I feel that if you can make even one person's life better then you have done something amazing. That is also why I loved working with Habitat for Humanity - seeing the smiles on that family's faces when they got the keys to their new home was an amazing feeling and I hope to work with Habitat for Humanity again some day.
^The house I worked on the first day
^Habitat for Humanity subdivision in Birmingham, Alabama
^Me (left) and Lauren doing some painting in a nearly-completed home
^Family (in green shirts) at the dedication of their new home
Our group's main goal was fundraising enough money so that we could go to a build site in the southern USA, where the weather is nice enough in March and April that home construction is possible. We did many fundraisers such as bake sales, band nights, and silent auctions.
There are so many volunteers at UNB/STU that not everyone can go on the trip each year. In my first year, I wasn't able to go. However, I did get to go in 2010. A group of about 30 of us went to Birmingham, Alabama, which is about a 35-hour drive from Fredericton, New Brunswick. We spent a week there helping in all aspects of home construction, from roofing to landscaping to painting. We were even fortunate enough to be there when the keys to one of the homes we worked on were handed to their new owners. It was great to see such a loving family walk into their first real home.
What I love about teaching is the feeling that I am helping someone. Even though you can't help everyone, I feel that if you can make even one person's life better then you have done something amazing. That is also why I loved working with Habitat for Humanity - seeing the smiles on that family's faces when they got the keys to their new home was an amazing feeling and I hope to work with Habitat for Humanity again some day.
^The house I worked on the first day
^Habitat for Humanity subdivision in Birmingham, Alabama
^Me (left) and Lauren doing some painting in a nearly-completed home
^Family (in green shirts) at the dedication of their new home